Oddity, Week 5

Smokey eyes peer out of the pale oval face framed by platinum blonde hair. Her lips bend slightly upward with a sly little smile and are painted the same color as the picture's baby pink background. Her dress matches this shade as well but is set off by the light caught in the skinny rectangular sequins that run its length. It's form fitting and low-cut, but shows no cleavage, due more to her boyish figure than the dress's modesty. "His Best Sex Ever," "Um, Vagina are you okay down there?," and "Too Naughty to Say Here: But you have to try this sex trick" in bold type frames her lithe body. "COSM" on one side of her head and "ITAN" on the other is all that readers can see of the magazine's title, but most any woman would readily know, even without the title, that this is an edition of Cosmopolitan, it's glossy front and sex-riddled headlines a dead giveaway for the iconic women's magazine.

The woman on the cover is Dakota Fanning, and she is only 17-years-old. A child actress, known for her sweet-little-girl appearance and girl-next-door appeal and most recently of Twilight fame, Fanning seems to be eschewing her wholesome associations by posing on the inside of the magazine in rabbit ears, redolent of Hugh Hefner and his bunnies. In truth, the magazine and it's staff seem hyper aware of the seemingly relative innocence of its cover model in using the baby pink color as a background, in printing several pictures of Fanning as she grew up, and even by drawing attention to the incongruency of an underage cover model for this particular magazine by captioning the bunny-eared picture with the statement "Two years ago, this would have been cute. Now it's hot."

This cover is only one of many magazine covers that seek to sensualize young girls on the cusp of womanhood. In 1980, Brooke Shields was only 15 when she posed for Cosmo. In February of 2012, it was Dakota Fanning. In March, Cosmo will feature Disney channel star, Selena Gomez, who may be 19 (only slightly overage), but is still young and very much associated with a younger age set and viewership. A few years ago, Miley Cyrus, also of Disney channel fame was involved in a scandal over her Vanity Fair cover photo. Not to mention the number of greatly underage supermodels today, coveted specifically for their undeveloped figures which allow the clothes to hang like on a coat hanger.

Response to Pam's Response to my Oddity for this week, Week 5

Pam, thank you so much! One thing I've noticed about your comments here and on my workshop piece is that you have a wonderful way of seeing somewhat strange connections that could blow a small piece like this wide open to the more nuanced and reflective expansions we've been trying to work toward in class. I, of course, began with the game itself and moved slightly off-subject to the obsessive culture that has grown up around it, but had little idea of how to expand this further or add in a more nuanced "reflection." I never even thought about the implications surrounding why the company would include such a warning. Granted, I feel, knowing the game and the rampant jokes written into it, that the programmers are probably just being tongue-in-cheek here, but you bet that if someone tried to sue the company because they lost their job, and I've known such people (he lost his girlfriend too, but that's another story), because they played too much WoW, the company would use any means necessary to absolve itself of culpability, including this little quip. I think suggestions like this will be the most beneficial uses of this journal because, at least to me and in my writing, I can easily generate small posts, my problem is finding the connections that expand that piece and actually make it into an essay worth writing. Again, thank you so much!

Original Prompt, Week 5

In a section of "Mary and Wilbur," Thomas Lynch writes about how he and his wife take walks in their town. "She sees the architectural detail of Greek Revival homes, Queen Anne's, Federalist, and Victoriana. I [Lynch] see the garage where two teachers, long married and childless, known for their prowess at ballroom dancing, and careful fashions, were found asphyxiated in their Oldsmobile." The pair of Lynch and his wife look on the same scenes, but where she "sees a well-made garden, bordering the backyard of a house," he remembers "painting a bedroom overnight in which a man had shot himself so that his children, grown now, wouldn't have to return to the mess he'd made." This passage brought to mind the nuanced differences of perspective. Depending upon who is an author's speaker, and even that speaker's changing moods, different scenes and details take on vastly different connotations and relevancies to a given piece. In creative non-fiction, this perspective is a very important for it often is the source of the reflection we've been needing to cultivate in our own writing. Here, however, Lynch gives us two perspectives, vastly different, and in that difference is a subtle reflective commentary on the essay's subject. Prompt: Write about a scene, experience, etc. in which two characters, one being the speaker, have opposite perspectives. It would probably be best if the perspectives are not directly opposing, or at least that the characters emotions connected to the perspectives are not high emotions, so that the characters do not enter into an argument, but are simply noticing different details and remembering different events. Focus not on the interiority of the individuals, but more on the nuanced physical details of the scene/experience they are noting. Then, compose an accompanying reflective passage in which the speaker comments upon the relevance of the different perspectives through his/her own perspective.

Oddity, Week 5

MMO stands for massively multi-player online game. World of Warcraft is, and has been for many years, the biggest of these games and I play a Draenei arcane mage. The world of WoW, Azeroth, consists of three continents, the Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor, and Northrend. On these continents are two factions, the Alliance and the Horde. Players can choose to make either an Alliance or a Horde character and by this choice limit themselves to a certain number of races for that character. The Alliance is home to Night Elves, Humans, Gnomes, Dwarfs, Draenei, and Worgen. The Horde is home to Forsaken, Trolls, Tauren, Orcs, Blood Elves, and Goblins. Each of these races can then be customized into various classes: warriors, paladin, hunters, rogues, priests, shaman, magi, warlocks, druids, and death knights. Each class has three talent trees which allow even the classes to be customized. Currently, there are about 10.3 million people in the world who subscribe to the game and these numbers are down from where they used to be. As has already been said, I am one of these subscribers. It's Chips fault. Chip, like many of these 10.3 million people have played WoW since it was introduced, but I would be classified as a "wrath baby," meaning I didn't start playing until the second expansion "The Wrath of the Lich King" was already released. It started as a free month's subscription as Chip said "just to see if you like it." At the time, it was supposed to be something Chip and I could do together. Now, I genuinely enjoy running around Azeroth "pewing" things with swirly, glowing magic. I, however, would be classified as the casual player. I get on when I want to, do what I want to, get off when I want to, and sometimes go weeks, even months, without logging on. Most players, however, belong to a guild with which they raid. Chip's guild raids three nights a week, for a couple of hours. There are some guilds, however, who make WoW their life. Literally, their people spend every spare moment they can muster on-line. The WoW programing team even occasionally puts a reminder to "go outside of Azeroth" with your friends on their loading screen. Now, while I do enjoy what many would classify as a rather dorky pastime, I must admit, I have no idea why these people forgo their real everyday lives for this on-line fantasy.

Junkyard quote 4, Week 5

"Bring your friends to Azeroth, but don't forget to go outside Azeroth with them as well." -another loading screen tip from World of Warcraft

Junkyard quote 3, Week 5

"You're much less likely to encounter wandering monsters while following a road." -tip on the loading screen for World of Warcraft

Junkyard quote 2, Week 5

"I guess that was only a minor nuisance for him." -Chip disgruntled by the guy who just one-shotted him on Battlefield whom Chip had shot at least four times before the guy hit him

Response to Pam's Oddity from Week 5, Week 5

Pam, I love the details in this post. Instead of saying "low calorie foods" you say "spinach, diet soda, black beans, and brown rice." Instead of saying women "cheat" on a diet, you give the example of "sweet tea and red velvet cake" at a baby shower. You do an excellent job of showing rather than telling, but the telling you do, ie the mantra "fails by association" to "Moose Tracks," "yeast rolls," and "fettuccine alfredo," hints toward the deeper reflection we've been talking about being missing from much of our drafting. While short, this piece is really working toward not just a reportage of weight loss attempts, but a critique and a discussion of the practice with which most women can easily identify. A question I would ask of this draft, and perhaps a way to expand it, is: How many weight-loss programs has the speaker been on? Bringing in details about different plans, could be a way to further explore the cultural phenomenon which keeps these companies in business, our inability to actually lose, and keep off, all the pounds we want to. What about American culture, and its women's perceptions that make these such lucrative businesses. Or as a way to get off subject, maybe this piece becomes about the food, and why we eat it, rather than just the attempts to deprive ourselves. What does food mean to us? Why do we beat ourselves up for eating the "wrong" thing?

Junkyard quote 1, week 5

"please prove you're not a robot" -the prompt to type the two squiggly words before Blogger will allow us to respond to someone else's post

Response to Brett's Junkyard quote, week 5

While the actual quote was interesting, what really made me think about this post was the last line. I really think Behan is right...okay maybe we aren't all drinkers, but it seems that most writers have to be something else. Dr. Davidson, for instance, would be a teacher with a writing problem. I would be a budgetary assistant with a writing problem. Our problem is that most of us will never make bank by our writing and so, must have some other occupation by which society can define us. So why, do we do it? Is it some need, some compulsion or addiction even? Seriously, we may all need some serious help...writers anonymous anyone? ;)

Response to Pam's Reportage Week 3, Week 3

This is an excellent example of what Dr. Davidson was talking about the other day when he said we should take the unexpected look at events, people, objects, etc. It would be one thing to write about the time a mouse scared you and you acted like a big sissy and had to have your husband come take care of it for you. While that would offer itself up to an examination of stereotypical gender roles, etc., it would also be quite expected. Writing about a mouse in this way, however, is quite a different thing. It is more unexpected and fresh, a different story than the one of dominant thought about women and mice. What I would ask of this draft, however, is WHY you saw the mouse differently? Why is the mouse only lovely in passivity, in death? Why when the mouse is "beyond the basement door" and outside of your house does it create a different response than when it scampers past your feet in your basement? Why is it interesting that you are now okay with the mouse when it is very likely that the poison you had your husband put out is what killed the mouse? In short, what is your reflection in regards to this mouse? Add that and you take this draft beyond reportage and give yourself a way to get off of the triggering subject.

Oddity, Week 3

While my husband and I were waiting for our to-go order of Chinese food the other day, a woman walked into the restaurant with her young daughter. While that in and of itself is not unusual, what I found interesting was that her daughter, who could not have been more than about nine or ten years old, looked like a complete miniature of her mother. I don’t mean that she resembled her mother in facial features, although she did, what I mean is that she wore tight jeans on her spindly, boyish legs, knee high, leather boots (I have a pair which my brother calls my hooker boots), a fitted sweater, and long chunky necklace. This ten-year-old had a small cell phone to her ear and designer sunglasses propped on top of her head, just like her mother. The one difference between her outfit and her mother’s was that the little girl had a much bigger purse than her mother’s. Her petite little figure carried a brown leather purse that my husband joked he could fit her inside of with no undue effort (and he wasn’t far off the mark). Upon closer inspection, I realized that the little girl also had on eyeliner and mascara, what looked like bronzer on her cheeks, and a shimmery lip gloss painted her lips. Truth be told, occurrences like this are not really an oddity now, but I remembered back to when I was that age and thought that the sight would most definitely have been odd then, and that was only 18 years ago.

Junkyard Quote 4, week 3

"But it's Madonna!" -friend watching the Super Bowl
What struck me about this quote is that none of the other people seemed to understand the relevance of the fact that it was Madonna. So often we say things that seem to us self-evident, but are so removed from other people's understanding and opinion that, without elaboration, the utterance means little to nothing to anyone but ourselves. In this particular case, this friend's husband replied "And?" and this friend had no response. She didn't even know why it was relevant that it was Madonna; she had no real interest or fascination with Madonna either, but as a cultural icon, apparently Madonna is supposed to carry some kind of significance. I'm starting to see, however, that in many cases dialogue can be a hazardous thing. If I were writing the scene, I would want to remain "true" to what happened and what was said, but if I were to do that in this instance, there would be a break down in communication between the story and a large portion of the would-be audience. To some "But it's Madonna!" would make perfect sense, but in many cases the reader would have the same response as my friend's husband. The importance of picking and choosing dialogue that is relevant and that does more than just directly relate the spoken word is becoming more and more apparent.

Junkyard Quote 3, Week 3

"Only dorks would name their group something no one else would even understand." "I understand it." "You're an English major; that's different." -discussion between myself and a friend about our husbands' involvement in the Society for Creative Anachronism

Junkyard Quote 2, Week 3

"He's lucky it didn't make his head into a canoe." -Chip, watching a YouTube video

Response to Brett's Memory from week 3, Week 3

Brett, I believe you said after class last week that you hadn't read a lot of contemporary poetry, but what struck me about this draft was the amazingly poetic language. Phrases like "flat panel plasmas of the bored middle class," "Circle City's crosshairs of class," "Indiana's proud blue nipple on a red conservative breast," and the entire listing following "Indy's circle stands for..." belie a great ear for poetic phrasings, techniques, and unexpected imagery. Especially the second section seemed to fall into more of a poetic cadence.
What I would like to see a little more of here, however, would be more personal details. Here you have a lot of reportage, but you hint at the apartment being your favorite, "shady deals" you've witnessed, the neighbors, and you letting out your friend's dog. These details, however, are limited. It could be interesting to hear more of why the apartment is your favorite, the specific memories there that seem to stand out in your mind. Or to hear some specifics about the "shady deals" you see. The factual details about the city and its layout are interesting and could be architectural to the piece, but could also be very interesting when juxtaposed with the more human and personal details I'm sure you could provide in later drafts.

Junkyard Quote 1, Week 3

"He was pooping rainbows for, like, three days." -Brandon, my department's IT guy